MX Superfly

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The best motocross game on the planet? Read our complete review.

By Matt Casamassina

During the last several years there have been a dozen or more notable dirt bike racing games for various consoles. Some, like Excitebike 64, have gone onto greatness (at least for the N64 guys) while others, unbalanced and unpolished, have suffered more unfavorable fates. PlayStation 2 and GameCube has already been blemished with one of the bad seeds -- Jeremy McGrath Supercross World, a clumsy mishmash of poor controls, lackluster options and sub-par visuals.

Thankfully, though, a great racer has finally arrived in its place. THQ's MX Superfly, packed full of tracks, riders, and trick opportunities, feels finely tuned, looks refined, and impresses with its tight, if floaty mechanics and plentiful modes of play. It's not a perfect racer, but it's a damn good one -- the best we've played on any next-generation console to date.

Gameplay MX Superfly is developed by Pacific Coast Power & Light, which is the same team that created Road Rash 64 for Nintendo's now defunct console, and which handled the first MX Supercross Starring Ricky Carmichael. It's clear that the software house has grown considerably in the last three years, and with MX Superfly, an extension of last year's model, with more of every element, it's grown into quite an impressive development house. Superfly, running on RenderWare, is packed full of features and options including 14 pro riders, 22 tracks set across indoor and outdoor environments (with some exclusive locales like Loretta Lynnis), and more. Also, in its attempt to bring gamers the most well-rounded dirt-biker racer on the market, the developer has not only enhanced the regular exhibition courses, but expanded the freestyle mode as well so that players can compete for big air and tricks on a wide variety of tracks designed specifically for those goals. Additionally, there are mini-games -- 11 in all (up from last year's two), in which riders must do everything from play a virtual game of dirt bike Horse to deliver pizzas, nail targets, slam jumps and the like. The sheer selection of tracks and play types is nothing short of amazing and, indeed, unparalleled by any other dirt bike racer available.

Luckily, PCP&L has realized that a great racer is not engineered by sheer options alone and has also created compelling gameplay mechanics. Players control bikes with the analog stick, accelerate with X, and brake with Square -- these are the basics. But of course there are other executables that help to increase the strategic element of each race. For example, tapping the R1 button when going into a sharp turn will result in a mini-powerslide of sorts; doing it correctly not only helps take corners without losing speed, but also feels excellent -- very satisfying. For even sharper turns, though, players can use the R1 button for a full-blown powerslide. It's surprisingly comfortable. There are other subtle and not so subtle control additions. Holding and releasing the L2 button before going off a jump, for instance, boosts the power of the jump for some seriously awesome air time. Almost all of the moves are exactly the same as last year's iteration. Pulling back or forward on the analog stick while in the air will make riders flip backward or forward with analog sensitivity, which is very well done. Similarly, pressing left or right in mid-flight will enable riders to spin their bikes; pulling off a 360-degree turn this way simply rocks.

On top of everything else, there is a wide -- really wide -- selection of moves that can be performed, from fakies to supermans to tsunamis, with a combination of buttons while soaring. This system is incredibly unintuitive at first, but with some practice it eventually becomes easier. Never quite easy, but easier. To its credit, at least, the trick system is addicting and worth the time and effort.

The backbone of Superfly is its physics engine, which is a mixture of realistic and arcade styles. What this ultimately translates to is a play style that is highly floaty -- bikes soar high up into the air and hang there with potential for massive tricks and stunts, but it sometimes comes at the sacrifice of pure adrenaline speed. The floaty gravity of the title, just like last year's title, may turn off some players interested in pure speed and nothing else. At the end of the day the racing experience is still fairly fast, it's just not the emphasis. Air junkies, meanwhile, are sure to be thrilled at the prospect of catching some of the truly gargantuan, chasm-clearing jumps featured at every corner in the game. Personally, we love it, and just as intriguing are the tracks themselves, which are designed to branch in multiple paths. In Freestyle Mode, crafty riders will even discover hidden areas to levels, including an Area 51 spoof complete with aliens and spaceship shadowed in the desert.

The meat and potatoes of the title is its Career Mode, in which players create a rider from scratch, start him or her on an amateur tour and then go pro, earning cash, unlocking new courses and circuits, and generally advancing through the game. It isn't easy. Even on the beginning circuit, players may at first have trouble scoring first place against rider AI (up to 12 other bad boys on screen), and pro tours will absolutely have them pulling at their hair. The true testament to the game's balance and design, though, is that even after losing gamers will want to try again and again until they get it. And if that's not one's cup of tea, they can play around in the Freestyle Career Mode, go for single Exhibition races, or have at some of the mini-games. Improvements made to this year's version include a more fair system for trailing off course, a better menu system that's more open and free for players to retry courses, and more finely tuned AI riders.